One atom equals one bit: According to this design principle, we would like to construct magnetic data memories in the future. Presently, a compound of several million atoms is needed to stabilize a magnetic bit in a way that hard disk data are secure for several years. However, researchers from KIT have just made a big step towards a single-atom bit: They fixed a single atom on a surface such that the magnetic spin remained stable for ten minutes.
(http://images.sciencedaily.com/2013/11/131114094804-large.jpg)
The scanning tunneling microscope makes single holmium atoms on a platinum surface visible. (Credit: KIT/T. Miyamachi)
source: internet